Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Ankara’s decision to completely halt trades with Israel aims to put further pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu government for ceasefire. | Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip have resulted in the deaths of at least 34,596 Palestinians, including 14,685 children and 9,670 women, with 77,816 others injured, Gaza Health Ministry stated on May 2. Despite ongoing international efforts to mitigate the crisis, civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and educational institutions, continues to be targeted.

A Geneva-based right group urges an investigation into the apartheid “Israeli” entity’s potential use of banned thermal weapons in its genocidal war campaign against Gaza which could evaporate or melt victim bodies. | Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in a report on Tuesday said that testimonies received by the rights group show that victims’ bodies appear to have evaporated or melted as a result of the entity’s bombing of residential homes in the Gaza Strip.

💬 “An international committee of experts must be established to look into the weapons ‘Israel’ has been using as part of its genocide in the Gaza Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023, including the potential use of bombs that produce such high heat that victims’ bodies evaporate,” the report said. ● According to the Euro-Med Monitor report, thousands of bodies in Gaza remain missing and they “no longer exist” and may have “turned to ashes,” raising questions about the type of bombs used in the attacks.

The report added that the “shockingly high” death toll in Gaza raises fears about the potential use of “thermal weapons”, or what are known as “vacuum bombs”, well-known in military circles for their efficacy in demolishing caves and underground tunnel complexes.

■ Russia Calls for Independent International Investigation of Mass Graves in Gaza - Russian Envoy (Sputnik News)

The details of the comprehensive 'framework deal' between the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli occupation have been provided to Al Mayadeen. | Al Mayadeen has acquired the details of the latest proposed deal between the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli occupation, specifically related to the prisoner exchange deal and related clauses. ● The framework of the agreement aims to achieve the release of all Israeli civilian and military captives, be they dead or alive, held in the Gaza Strip. The agreement will not only encompass captives taken on October 7 but all Israeli captives. ● Primarily, the deal's objective is to achieve calm in the area and work on reaching a ceasefire, the document acquired by Al Mayadeen explains.

Move comes following growing domestic pressure and a meeting between Erdogan and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh | Turkey will join South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Wednesday. Fidan said that Turkey has been deliberating how to respond to Israel's actions during the war on Gaza for a while and has already taken steps against Israel, such as restricted some exports. “Our legal experts have been studying how to participate in the legal case against Israel at the ICJ,” Fidan during televised remarks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the officials’ plan, Fidan added, so Turkey “will legally support South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ, and file our application to the court soon”.

■ Russia Calls for Independent International Investigation of Mass Graves in Gaza - Russian Envoy (Sputnik News)

Investigation by Middle East Eye reveals that a company owned by an ally of the Egyptian president may have earned at least $118m in three months | A company owned by an influential Egyptian businessman and ally of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is making around $2m a day from Palestinians fleeing Israel's war on Gaza, Middle East Eye can reveal. ● Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, a firm owned by Sinai tribal leader and business tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi, has been charging Palestinians crossing from Gaza's Rafah to Egypt at least $5,000 per adult and $2,500 for children under 16. ● It has a monopoly on providing transfer services at the Rafah crossing, the only Gaza exit not bordered with Israel and the single route out of the coastal enclave for Palestinians.

■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

8,535 Palestinians arrested in West Bank since October 7

 ■  US Secretary of State Blinken, on a visit to Tel Aviv, says there should be “no delays, no excuses” in reaching a ceasefire deal, claiming the only reason it may not happen “is because of Hamas”.
 ■ At least two children have been killed in an overnight Israeli attack on a house in Rafah, while more reportedly died in an air strike on a residential building in central Gaza City.

Israeli forces have detained 20 Palestinians, including one minor, throughout the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. This brings the total number of Palestinians arrested in the West Bank since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 to 8,535. The latest arrests took place in Hebron, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tubas, Nablus, Jericho, and Jerusalem governorates, said the Prisoners Society, where Israeli forces also harassed, threatened, and assaulted detainees and their relatives.

■ Gaza live: UN aid chief warns Rafah assault will cause 'tragedy beyond words' (MEE)
■ Israeli forces demolish home, water well near Hebron (Al Jazeera)
■ Professor remains hospitalized after being beaten by police during pro-Palestinian protest at US campus (Anadolu)

A United States B-2 Stealth Bomber was sent to fly over the Gaza Strip today, and do so at an altitude wherein the plane was clearly visible to people on the ground. What kind of a monster, sends a nuclear-capable Bomber aircraft to intimidate people on the ground? Who in the US Military; ordered this? Why was it done?

Israel is setting up 'complex network' of checkpoints to prevent 'military age' men from fleeing Rafah assault, senior western official tells MEE | Israel is setting up a complex system of checkpoints that will prevent men of “military age” from fleeing Rafah in preparation for its offensive on the southern Gaza border city, a senior western official familiar with Israel’s plans has told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity. ● The checkpoints are designed to allow some women and children to leave Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli offensive, but unarmed, civilian Palestinian men will likely be separated from their families and remain trapped in Rafah during an expected Israeli assault. ● The previously unreported disclosure of Israel’s construction of a ring of checkpoints around Rafah underscores how Israel is pushing ahead with plans to attack the city where over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in tents and makeshift camps. ● The creation of gender-based checkpoints around Rafah would put a spotlight back on Israel’s practice of stripping and forcibly detaining male Palestinian men and children, as it faces rising scrutiny in the West of its conduct in the war. The rounding up of Palestinian males in Gaza and photographing them stripped to their underwear drew condemnation in December, with the US calling the images “deeply disturbing”.

■ 'Israel' has no 'Intl' credit' to invade Rafah: Ex-Israeli General (Al Mayadeen)
■ Live blog: Israeli army 'ready' to invade Gaza's Rafah in 72 hours (TRT World)
■ Israeli airstrikes on Rafah kill at least 22 people, Palestinian officials say (Spectrum News)
■ 7 more Palestinians killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes across Gaza (aNews)
■ The Israel-US game plan for Gaza is staring us in the face (Jonathan Cook)

President Biden pretends to want to get more aid into the Strip. | President Biden ordered the military to construct the pier "for aid deliveries" [They're building a pier to carry out the genocide, let's face it.] instead of pressuring Israel to open more land border crossings, which is by far the most efficient way to get more aid into the Strip. Israel will impose a strict inspection regime on aid shipments coming through the pier, requiring inspections before they’re shipped from Cyprus and again when the aid reaches the shore of Gaza. ● According to a report from The Jerusalem Post, the idea to build the pier came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who proposed it to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in October. A reporter for Israel’s Kan news said last month that during a meeting of the Knessett’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Netanyahu suggested using the pier to remove Palestinians from Gaza. [It'll probably be Cyprus first, and then into the rest of Europe later.]

■ Temporary aid pier off Gaza to be operational in May: Pentagon (aNews)

Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance. | The United Nations' top court will rule today on charges by Nicaragua that Germany is breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by supplying arms to Israel for the Gaza war. ● Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to demand that judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance. ● More than 34,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel's war on Gaza broke out in October. ● The ICJ in The Hague is scheduled to issue an order at 1300 GMT.

🔴 LIVE DAY 207 #Israel #Palestine

- ICJ to give orders on Nicaragua v. Germany
- Columbia University suspends student protesters
- US and UK urge Hamas to accept ceasefire deal

Follow our live coverage ⤵️https://t.co/1aIfFq6dcV

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 30, 2024

■ Mapping pro-Palestine college campus protests around the world (Al Jazeera)
■ French university students join US-led protests over Israel’s war in Gaza (Al Jazeera)
■ San Francisco State University begins encampment for Palestine (Anadolu)
■ Group of pro-Palestinian students enters Hamilton Hall building at Columbia University (Anadolu)
■ Pro-Palestine protesters arrested at Texas university (VIDEOS) (RT.com)
■ Columbia suspends encampment protesters; movement unfazed (Al Mayadeen)

■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

At least three Israeli soldiers have been killed, and nearly a dozen others wounded in a war zone in the central part of the Gaza Strip, as Palestinian resistance forces continue to inflict losses on Israeli occupation forces across the war-ravaged coastal sliver. | Israeli media outlets reported that the three slain reserve soldiers were members of the 99th Division of the Israeli Army. They lost their lives in the vicinity of the Netzarim checkpoint, which separates northern and southern Gaza. Another eleven Israeli troops sustained injuries as well. ● There were reports that some of the Israeli troops were evacuated by helicopters, while others were still getting treated in the field. ● The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, announced that it targeted the Israeli command center in Netzarim with heavy-caliber mortar shells. ● In a statement, the group said its fighters lured a mechanized Israeli force and struck it with unexploded ordnance and munitions, which the occupation troops had earlier used against Palestinians in al-Sikka Street of the al-Mughraqa neighborhood in central Gaza. ● The Israeli military has so far confirmed some 260 deaths among its troops since the launch of a ground invasion of Gaza.

■ Israel launches fresh attacks in southern Lebanon amid tension with Hezbollah (Anadolu)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has vehemently slammed the heavy-handed crackdown against pro-Palestine student protests in Western universities, especially in the United States, saying it has laid bare the true nature of Western civilization. | The Iranian president described violent suppression of anti-Zionist student protests, and the beating and arrest of professors and students in Western universities, especially in the US, as “another scandal for self-proclaimed advocates of freedom of expression.”

💬 “Today, thanks to the blessed blood of the oppressed martyrs of Gaza, the true nature of Western civilization has been revealed to the people of the world more than any time before,” the Iranian president said. Raisi added, “It has become evident that those who claim to be advocating freedom of expression do not think about anything other than maintaining their own domination.”

Students and staff of Tehran University have held a rally in support of growing protests on US university campuses where students have erected encampments to demand action to end “Israel’s” aggression on Gaza. ● Elsewhere in his remarks, Iran's president said the current uprising of Western students, professors, and elites in support of the oppressed people of Gaza is a major development with vast ramifications.

■ Over 900 arrested at anti-war protests in US universities since April 18 (PressTV)
■ Hundreds of Pro-Palestine Protesters Arrested in US Universities (Alahed News)
■ US doesn’t want Gaza ceasefire: Iran (Iran Front Page)
■ Israeli embassies worldwide on alert over potential ICC arrest warrants for Gaza war crimes (Anadolu)
■ “Israel” Fears ICC Arrest Warrants against Bibi, other Officials over Gaza Genocide (Alahed News)

■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

Media sources report that Palestinian detainee Kareem Abu Saleh died while detained in an Israeli occupation prison. | A Palestinian father of a newborn died on Saturday evening while being detained in Israeli occupation prisons. ● Media sources reported that Kareem Abu Saleh, from the city of Sakhnin in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, was martyred as a result of a surge in Israeli occupation attacks and human rights violations against Palestinian detainees. ● Abu Saleh was blessed with his firstborn two days before his martyrdom inside his cell in the occupation's prisons. Previously, Abu Saleh had spent six years in detention before the Israeli occupation forces re-arrested him 10 days ago.

■ 3,000+ Palestinians from Gaza detained, tortured in Israeli prisons (04/16/24)
■ Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees, spike in arbitrary arrests (04/13/24)
■ Released Detainees From Israeli Prisons Showed Signs of Torture (03/18/24)
■ Torture, Executions, Babies Left to Die, Sexual Abuse… These Are Israel’s Crimes (03/18/24)

In a special interview with TASS, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provided insight into his visit to Russia, highlighted what support Moscow has provided to the agency, and addressed the motivations behind some countries' attempts to dismantle UNRWA and undermine the interests of Palestinians.

QUESTION: The UN has repeatedly drawn attention to the unprecedented scale of human suffering in the Gaza Strip. And according to the most recent statistics released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll in Gaza has unfortunately surpassed 34,000 people in casualties. However, certain countries remain skeptical of those numbers. How much trust do you have in these statistics?

ANSWER: 💬 It's very difficult in a war situation to have precise figures. But I do believe that the amount being published gives a reasonably good idea of the scale of the number of people who have been killed in Gaza. And this is horrible. It's unprecedented when you think that in six months more than 30,000 people have been killed. We know that among them there are 13,000 children. We know that there were more children killed in Gaza in six months than in all the conflicts across the world in the last four years. So it's unprecedented in scale, as well as the level of destruction.

■ NBC News investigation reveals Israel strikes on Gaza areas it said were safe (NBC News)
■ 8 Palestinians killed in Israel strikes on Nuseirat refugee camp (Anadolu)
■ LONDON: 'Hundreds of thousands' of protestors at pro-Palestine march as police issue warning (The Mirror)

■ Live blog: Fresh Israeli strikes kill 8 Palestinian children in Gaza | Israel's war on besieged Gaza, now in its 204th day, has killed at least 34,388 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 77,437 while some 8,400 people are feared buried under the rubble of bombed buildings. | More than a dozen Palestinians were killed, including eight children, in Israeli bombings Saturday in Gaza, Palestinian media reported. A house was targeted in the Saudi neighborhood of the southern city of Rafah. At least six Palestinians, including four children, were killed in the attack, Wafa reported. Eight others were injured. Israel warplanes pounded the Jaradat area east of the Rafah crossing, wounding several people, eyewitnesses told Anadolu news agency. In central Gaza, an airstrike on the Nuseirat camp killed nine Palestinians, including four children, and injured 30 others, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces says it has carried out new operations against American and British targets in retaliation for their aggression on the country. | Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Friday that Yemen’s naval forces struck a British oil tanker in the Red Sea with missiles. Saree also said the military also shot down an American MQ-9 drone in Sa’ada province. He added that the new operations were also a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israeli genocide there.

■ 'Incident' reported off coast of Yemen in Red Sea (Al Mayadeen)
■ USS Dwight D Eisenhower leaves Red Sea after failing to stop Yemenis (Al Mayadeen)

■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

Iran's permanent ambassador to the United Nations has denounced Israel’s destabilizing activities in West Asia, urging the UN Security Council to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its atrocities in Gaza and elsewhere. |

💬 “Israel's ongoing destabilized and irresponsible actions and atrocities against the nations in the region are a real threat to regional and international peace and security,” Amir Saeid Iravani said as he addressed a UN Security Council session in New York on Thursday. ● “It is time for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and address the real threat to international peace and security. The Security Council must promptly fulfill its duty under Chapter 7 of the Charter in response to Israel's reckless defiance. ● “It must take urgent and punitive measures to compel this regime to stop its genocide and massacre against the people of Gaza and uphold its obligations especially fully implement the UNSC resolutions and legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice.”

He noted that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to expand and escalate the conflict in the region to stay in power, emphasizing that the members of the Security Council must not allow the body to be held hostage to the ambitions of such a "belligerent regime." [...] The Iranian UN ambassador finally stated that the Islamic Republic has no intention of engaging in conflict with the US in the region; however, it will use its inherent right to respond proportionately if Washington initiates military operations against Iran, its citizens, or its security and interests.

■ Iran to launch missiles anywhere in Israel if necessary (Mehr News)

Andy Worthington | End Times for Humanity, With the West Fully Committed to Israel’s Genocide of the Palestinians and to Complete Climate Collapse | Over the last few weeks, I’ve been suffering from a state of exhaustion that made me wonder if I had some undiagnosed terminal illness. I’ve been unable to concentrate, and, as soon as I woke up, I was wondering when I could go back to bed again. ■ Yesterday, the fog finally lifted, and I realized that my exhaustion was almost certainly a result of the dire state of the world right now — primarily related to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza (still, after the murder of over 37,000 civilians, largely supported by western politicians and the mainstream media), but also to the cascading climate collapse that these same politicians and media outlets don’t want to talk about. ■ On Gaza, I suspect that my exhaustion was primarily related to an overwhelming sense of futility and powerlessness regarding any hope that the relentless genocide might be stopped. For those, like myself, who have been watching this grotesque live-streamed genocide unfold for over six months — ever since Hamas militants and other Gaza-based militants broke out of the “open-air prison” of the Gaza Strip on October 7 and killed 695 Israeli civilians, 373 members of the military and the police, and 71 foreign nationals — there have only been a few moments when hope appeared to be in the ascendant, and on each occasion the aftermath, when that hope was crushed, has been difficult to negotiate.

■ 50 bodies found in mass grave in Gaza hospital days after Israeli withdrawal (04/21/24)